Top 25: Which Cities Pay Software Engineers the Best?

Denver, Colo.

Denver, Colo., boasts a real adjusted salary of $85,878, with a cost of living of 4.8 percent above the national average. Median base salary for the city is $90,000. At the time of posting, there were over 800 software engineer job openings.

Our world is advancing at a faster pace every year. With the advent of the Internet, the cloud and a bounty of mobile devices, our need to consume and access data continues to grow exponentially. This is a great thing for techies, especially software engineers, as it has created a vibrant market that provides ample job opportunities across the country.

But where can you find the best pay? That depends. Due to the variance in the cost of living – such as housing, transportation, food, etc. – the buying power of the same paycheck in Silicon Valley (where the cost of living is 21.3 percent higher than the national average) isn't going to be equal to a paycheck in Madison, Wis. (where the cost of living is 2.3 percent lower than the national average).

'Real adjusted salary' is determined by looking at the ratio of each city's local median software engineer base salary to its official cost of living figures from the federal government. (Note: Government figures compare the average cost of living price level in each city to the national average, which is set at 100.)